Knowing when a Simple Touch is Enough
by Tadpole24
Summary: And a whispered response from him...something she must have imagined...  "I love you, too."  BB 6x09 Speculation. Mild Spoilers


**Here's the thing...I'm in my hometown and I have very limited internet, so I've been going stir crazy having not being able to watch an episode since the 'Science Dude'. I've been watching season 1 (hence the title) and I snuck a peek at the promo for 6x09 (and nearly cried with joy at how amazing it looks) and then this was born :)**

**Disclaimer: The actual reason I haven't watched Bones in a while is because I'm protesting Hart Hanson once again not handing over the rights to me...damn! ;) Still not mine.**

**Enjoy.**

..:::..

Knowing When a Simple Touch Is Enough

..:::..

She is tired, exhausted really, and still quite damp, but there is something cathartic in the movements she is making. Her arm reaches over and over again to the items strewn across her desk and then into the box which originally contained each of the items. She pauses constantly to look at the remains of this woman's life. Her entire being confined to a box which would bear her name, her date of birth and her date of death and absolutely nothing else.

She'd always known that when you die nothing more becomes of you, but she has hoped that some part of Booth's wildly illogical view was true; she wished that people lived beyond life, she especially wished that the woman whose life was now contained in the box before her could hear her as she sends a silent thank you to her. She pauses to take a look at the doctor's graduation photo. A woman standing tall and proud and solitary; Brennan sighs and looks at her own graduation photo which has taken up residence on the shelf by her desk. The photo's are so similar it's uncanny, if it weren't for the different coloured robes they could be the same person...smiling with a smile that couldn't reach their eyes.

She looks up as Booth re-enters her office. He's been gone a few hours, having a lot to think about after Brennan had admitted her regrets. She places the last of the photos into the box and watches as Booth looks awkwardly around the office.

"I can drive myself home, you know?"

Booth looks at her, startled by her voice in the silence of the room, "It's okay, I'm here now, right?"

She nods, not in the mood to argue that if he was to leave now he'd make it home within 20 minutes rather than the 40 minute trip he was going to have to endeavour to get her home.

He watches her move a few things around on her desk, rearranging for the sake of rearranging and then he watches as he crystal blue eyes meet his. He is stunned by the intensity; there is something in his grasp that he has never been able to reach before. He had known from the start that the case had been difficult for his partner, but he hadn't been able to guess how difficult. Judging by the conversation they had had in his car earlier in the evening it had been possibly the hardest thing she had ever had to face... the possibility of facing a feeling that she had never thought existed. For a logical mind such as hers, it must have been confusing and completely exhausting.

He breaks eye contact and nods his head towards the door, guiding her by the small of her back as she exits.

The walk out of the Jeffersonian is silent, but it is nothing compared to the silence in the car. He hasn't cleaned up the tissues she used earlier; they sit in an open reminder of what was discussed. Words of love and regret float through her memory and she tries to piece together exactly what she told Booth.

"_I want to live a life with no regrets."_

"_I made a mistake and I can't take it back."_

"_I love you."_

And a whispered response from him...something she must have imagined...

"_I love you, too."_

Somewhere along the way Booth reaches across the great divide which is the centre console and takes hold of her hand. He is warm and his palm is soft and soothing against her tired and cool skin. She smiles a small smile at him and when they stop outside of her apartment he returns it, lifting her hand to his lips and placing a light kiss there. She pulls her hand back to herself but mutters a thank you as she leaves the vehicle to walk the rainy steps to her apartment building, feeling a surge of hope lifting her in a way she would never be able to explain.

Booth watches her shadowy form enter the building with a small smile on his face. He never had a hope of getting over her; he'll tell her tomorrow that he's broken up with Hannah.

..:::..

**Let me know how you went :)**


End file.
